Guidelines for Advocacy
Section IV - Areas of Advocacy

1. the formation of “healing for life” centres for those struggling for liberty from addictions wherein the treatment may involve all members of the families directly affected
2. free legal services to assist mothers to regain custody where children have been apprehended by any governmental agency
3. safe and fully resourced community housing to be established to house women as an alternative to imprisonment
4. all imprisoned mothers with pre-school children to be granted three-hour, daily visiting rights in an area separate from other visiting areas. This special area should include facilities for play, indoors and outdoors, changing and feeding and rest areas and be open only to the child, the person accompanying the child and the mother.
5. funding to be awarded to community groups who can provide qualified volunteers to accompany and transport children for these special visits
6. a Special Family Advocate be appointed from CAEFS to assist all women in prison with any difficulties she encounters in any of her parenting and/or relationship efforts
7. mothers in prison to be encouraged and assisted in their efforts to provide gifts to their children, to have photographs taken, and to participate in their children’s school activities wherever possible.
8. parenting skills and child care courses to be provided to all women who seek better understanding in this demanding arena and/or who may also seek careers in this field
9. the rights of open communication and correspondence of women in prison with families and friends and the immediate order to desist from the practice of censorship in all forms

The basis for the jurisdictional separation of imprisonment as the punishment for criminal acts is found in the British North America Act. The standard is that if sentenced to imprisonment of two years or more the ruling jurisdiction is federal and the person is imprisoned in a federal penitentiary. If the sentence is less than two years, then provincial jurisdiction and imprisonment is ruled. Due to the small numbers of women imprisoned versus men, “economies of scale” cannot be accomplished which rationalizes the extremely poor and harsh conditions that women in Canadian reformatories, jails, prisons and penitentiaries exist under.

Additionally, provincially sentenced women can be transferred to a federal penitentiary at the request of provincial authorities. It is a fact that these transfers are usually enforced upon Aboriginal women. It is now also not uncommon for woman deemed to have mental health needs to be segregated in a men’s prison. All of these transfers are carried out with no regard to the hardships imposed with regard to any possible family contact.

1. to raise the standards of provincially-sentenced women to those governing federally-sentenced women in the federal system where ever and when ever this results in better conditions for women in prison
2. to further the understanding that it is the organization of the prison which is the main factor explaining behaviour which accounts for the majority of the violence in prisons and not the violent nature of imprisoned women. (“…harsh institutional practices, which induced defiant responses on the part of inmates, which in turn shaped the form of overt behaviour resulting in more punishment.” (cited in Mandaraka-Sheppard 1986).⁵
   “…concentration on control is likely to stimulate disruption…” and “…punitive responses and isolation may increase the incidence of self-destructive behaviour.”)⁶
3. to accept and honour the well-documented fact that since the majority of women in prison are not violent, women do not require the stringent security measures now imposed upon them, security measures which contribute to violence and unsafe conditions; therefore to immediately remove this form of unwarranted intrusion into the living conditions of incarcerated women in all penitentiaries including BCCW and other provincial prisons.
4. to promote the ideal of peaceful mediation, to desist immediately from the practice of using force to confront situations where the “peace and order of the institutions” may be temporarily challenged, in favour of utilizing prisoner committees, native sisterhood groups, and on-call advocacy groups

1. closing all “enhanced security units” and the immediate ceasing of plans and expenditures for any future segregation units with the recognition that when such perceived segregation from other prisoners is proven necessary, that personal cell lock-up be substituted

Until all segregation for women can be eliminated seek justice for women held in any form of segregation in any lock-up, reformatory, jail, prison or penitentiary by advocating for:

2. the entitlement of her possessions and needs
3. the right to daily contact with legal advisors, Elders, Community Board members, Prisoners’ Committee member(s), Native Sisterhood members, counselors, and health care workers along with the right for daily personal telephone calls
4. the notification to the appropriate Community Board on a daily basis of all woman so isolated
5. the attendance at any hearing to maintain the segregated status of the prisoner by legal and community advisors as requested by the prisoner

1. a National Community Board (NCB) whose primary functions will be interventional and auditorial in nature to be established with representation in each region where women are imprisoned; the NCB to have unlimited access to all areas of every prison
2. the members of the NCB be nominated from the justice, feminist and spiritually based organizations, be they Christian or otherwise whose advocacy for women in prison have already been positively demonstrated; the NCB to include women who have experienced and/or are experiencing prison.
3. the enabling for the NCB to conduct and negotiate conciliatory discussions between members of the prison population, the prison administrators and security personnel prior to the authorization of the use of any violent means by correctional authorities and in particular where prison administrators might consider the use of mace, weapons and/or involuntary searches of any kind
4. overseeing the regular audit of funds expended and funds incoming in all prisoner areas, not limited to the Inmate’s Welfare Fund, programs and “cottage industry” income and expenditures, and hobby craft sales
5. the mandate for the NCB to report on a quarterly basis to and meet on an annual basis with a Parliamentary Committee
6. a steering committee to be formed in this regard.

1. that all federally sentenced women are heard by the National Parole Board in their region with regard to all matters concerning release and applicable conditions.
2. that a representative from a prisoner-chosen advocacy group such as the National Association of Women and the Law, one whose primary source of funding is not the Solicitor General or provincial Attorney General’s departments, be funded through the Ministry of Women’s Equality to assist all women with parole matters.(Only in this way can women in prison will be assured of a gender-informed, racially-unbiased process)
3. that funding be available for community volunteers to escort women on passes
4. that funding be available to insure that no woman is forced to return to the prison when eligible for day parole or cannot be released on her earliest date due to the lack of halfway house beds as is the situation in B.C. (By liaisoning with every available alternative such as approved community placements and enlisting the support of other societies such as the BC/Yukon Society of Transition Houses, who have already agreed that many of the women leaving prison could be integrated into their facilities, this problem might be relieved.)

All of the areas of advocacy and items suggested as items to advocate for are only some of the areas of need and serve as examples. This paper by no means encompasses the totality of efforts that might contribute to the betterment of the status of these women.

However, should the advocate succeed in any of the areas of advocacy, s/he will most definitely become one of the most valuable assets some of these women would have, for true advocacy is a step towards the greater community of sisterhood, one term that could be used to describe an existence in a state of equality and liberty.

5 Mandaraka-Sheppard, A.1986. The Dynamics of Aggression in Women’s Prisons in England and Wales. London: Gower.
6 Shaw, Margaret. 1991. The Federal Female Offender. Report on a Preliminary Study. No.1991-3:82-3. Ottawa: Solicitor General of Canada.